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Abundance and Impact on Soil Properties of Cathedral and Lenticular Termite Mounds in Southern Indian Woodlands

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Abstract

Despite the acknowledged roles of termites in tropical ecosystems, the majority of published studies of epigeal mounds still address the African fauna and are principally concerned with spatial patterns and putative inter-colony competition, rather than the links between parent soil properties and mound establishment. Further, information about the effects of habitat disturbance, and especially fragmentation, is lacking. This study assessed the abundance and distribution of the cathedral- and lenticular-type aboveground mounds of fungus-growing termites (Macrotermitinae), which are a common feature of South Indian woodlands, in relation to soil properties (vertisol vs. ferralsol) and habitat fragmentation (forest vs. highway margins). Mound abundance averaged 3.5 (standard error, SE 0.8) ha−1 (cathedral) and 12.9 (SE 2.1) ha−1 (lenticular), but was not influenced either by soil properties or disturbance. However, the volume of soil stored in the mounds varied between 27 (SE 8) m3 ha−1 (ferralsol) and 47 (SE 6) m3 ha−1 (vertisol). At the watershed scale, such volumes are equivalent to a 3.1-mm layer of soil if spread evenly across the landscape, roughly the same as the estimated erosion over the life of a typical mound. Significantly more nutrients were stored in lenticular mounds, especially on the vertisol, but the significance of these at the ecosystem level was considered small. In conclusion, this study suggests that termite mounds, and especially lenticular mounds, have a significant impact on soil dynamics at the watershed scale but a limited impact on the distribution of C and nutrients.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was supported by the French National Program EC2CO-Biohefect “MACROFLUX” and the Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences (LMI IFCWS/CEFIRSE, http://www.cefirse.ird.fr) from the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD). Data were partially obtained from the ALYSES facility (IRD-UPMC) that was supported by grants from Région Ile-de-France. The Mule Hole basin is part of the ORE-BVET project (Observatoire de Recherche en Environnement - Bassin Versant Expérimentaux Tropicaux, http://bvet.omp.obs-mip.fr/index. php/eng/) supported by IRD, CNRS, and Toulouse University. The project also benefited from funding from the Réseau des Bassins Versants (RBV, http://rnbv.ipgp.fr/). We would like to thank Michèle Bouchez and Johana Azzi for their help and the Karnataka Forest Department and the staff of the Bandipur National Park for all the facilities and support they provided, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments that permitted to clarify and improve the manuscript.

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    1. Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UMR 242 iEES Paris, UPMC, CNRS, IRD, INRA, UPEC, Univ. P. Diderot), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 32 av. H. Varagnat, 93143, Bondy, France

      Pascal Jouquet, Etienne Airola & Nabila Guilleux

    2. Indo-French Cell for Water Science (IFCWS), Civil engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 012, India

      Pascal Jouquet, Etienne Airola, Nabila Guilleux, Ajay Harit, Ekta Chaudhary & Jean Riotte

    3. Center for Ecological Studies (CES), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 012, India

      Ekta Chaudhary

    4. IPAPE, CITERES UMR 7324, Université François Rabelais, 35 allée Ferdinand de Lesseps, 37200, Tours, France

      Séraphine Grellier

    5. GET-OMP, UMR 5563 CNRS/Univ. P. Sabatier/IRD, 14 avenue E. Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France

      Jean Riotte

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    Pascal Jouquet and Jean Riotte conceived the study; Etienne Airola, Nabila Guilleux, Ajay Harit, Ekta Chaudhary, Jean Riotte, and Pascal Jouquet performed research; Pascal Jouquet, Etienne Airola, and Séraphine Grellier analyzed data; Pascal Jouquet and Jean Riotte have contributed new methods or models; Pascal Jouquet and Jean Riotte have written the article.

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    Jouquet, P., Airola, E., Guilleux, N. et al. Abundance and Impact on Soil Properties of Cathedral and Lenticular Termite Mounds in Southern Indian Woodlands. Ecosystems 20, 769–780 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0060-5

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